


Roy/Ed Roleswap AU Outline

by Jeminy3



Series: AUs and Outlines [2]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Canon-Typical Violence, Other, Parallels, Role Reversal, Xingese Roy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-11 23:09:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18434042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jeminy3/pseuds/Jeminy3
Summary: A repost from my Google Docs to make my AU ideas easier to find and access. This is a general outline of ideas, forever WIP and not going to be a proper fic at any point. Feel free to take inspiration from it, and if you draw/write anything based on it, feel free to link back to this and show me what you made!Read the Google Doc hereThe Google Doc may be more subject to change from this version since it's easier to edit.For reblogs, art and writing on this au, check out the tag on my tumblr blog:Click Here





	Roy/Ed Roleswap AU Outline

FMA Roy/Ed Roleswap AU - Fullmetal Roy / Colonel Edward AU

 

 

AU in which Roy is the young Alchemist searching for the Philosopher's Stone and Edward is an adult and his commanding officer.

 

Alternatives:

\- Roles are fully swapped, with Roy being the Fullmetal Alchemist and Edward being the Flame Alchemist, with the appropriate backstories.

\- Ed and Al didn't perform human transmutation as kids, and on the Promised Day the homonculi try to force Edward to become a 5th Sacrifice by fatally injuring Alphonse.

\- Roy loses one eye instead of his leg after performing the first Human Transmutation, and spends the rest of his life with an eyepatch.

Background:

\- Xerxes is still around, Xing is the country that disappeared overnight and is now a huge, barren desert east of Xerxes. Roy's mother is from Xing and functions like canon Hohenheim. (possible names from IRL chinese women alchemists: Fang, Keng Hsien-Seng.)

\- "Father" is now called "Mother" because they've taken the form of Roy's mother.

\- Ling and co. still exist because they are descended from small populations of Xingese traders that were not in Xing at the time, and any clan members that managed to be outside the Human Transmutation circle that destroyed Xing. These leftover clans nearly killed each other in the ensuing power vacuum, and them and the traders eventually became an uncommon, wandering race with no home to return to, mixing with Westerners and at high risk of their culture disappearing completely.

They often face discrimination because they are considered a "cursed" race who brought about their own ruin. Colonel Ed and Al and their friends have no such prejudices, which is why Ling and co. are their friends and coworkers.

\- Creta functions more like canon Xing, with multiple tribes/states vying for power.

\- Within the same town as the Hawkeye estate, for the sake of convenience, are the Havoc family of automail mechanics/store owners.

Roy Mustang + Riza Hawkeye

\- Roy's mother left when he was a toddler, and the most he remembers is her distant stare before she walked out the door.

Soon after that, Roy and his father (Christopher Mustang) moved from a small southern town back to Central, living with his father's sister, Christine Mustang AKA Madame Christmas. She becomes Roy's foster mother. They lived in/next to her hostess bar.

\- at 11-12 years old, Roy decides to become an Alchemist, and takes up an apprenticeship to learn Alchemy under Berthold Hawkeye. He lives in his estate for 2-3 years, becoming close friends with his daughter, Riza Hawkeye (she's only 2 years younger than him here).

\- One day, Roy's given news that his father and Chris suddenly died in a fatal car accident. (In reality, they were probably killed by hitmen because of their involvement with underground trade/info exchange). He goes back home to attend the funeral with his adoptive sisters. Madame Christmas' establishment is dissolved, sending her girls to the streets. Roy is heartbroken.

With no other relatives, Roy is eventually signed over to Berthold's guardianship. He decides to snoop into Berthold's research to learn how to perform human transmutation to bring his father and Chris back. He convinces Riza to help when he figures that, if it works, they can bring back her late mother later.

\- They perform the transmutation in the basement while Berthold is gone from the house one day. The transmutation fails, Roy loses his left leg, and Riza loses her body. Guilty and desperate not to lose his only friend, Roy bonds her soul to a suit of armor in Berthold's basement, giving up his right arm.

Riza revives, and carries a bleeding Roy to the nearby Havoc's family home, begging for help, and they quickly perform surgery to save his life.

\- When Berthold arrives the next morning and sees the blood and burns in his estate, he flies into a rage. He barges into the Havoc home, demands to see Roy, and reprimands him harshly for what he's done. When he sees what's become of Riza, the stress finally makes him collapse, succumbing to his illness. The Havocs can't do much for him besides make him comfortable.

On his deathbed, Berthold calls Roy a fool for risking his life and nearly killing his daughter, and makes him promise to find a way to restore her body. When Roy agrees, he gives him the key to his research on Flame Alchemy (it's either a scroll, or a literal key to a safe containing the research). He tells Roy to only use Flame Alchemy to help him on his quest, never for evil, and to destroy the research afterwards. Berthold dies soon afterwards, and Roy is left despondent, wondering how he'll accomplish anything in his crippled state.

\- Two days later, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Elric and his younger brother, 2nd Lieutenant Alphonse Elric, come to investigate the Alchemic disturbance and a tip of a talented young Alchemist in town. They find the ruined Hawkeye estate, surmise what's happened, then interrogate Roy and Riza in the Havoc's home.

They hear their story and take pity on them. Ed reveals that he and his brother also attempted Human Transmutation to bring back a loved one when they were young, causing Ed to lose an arm and Alphonse to lose a leg, both now replaced with automail. But he's never seen someone lose their entire body, and surmises it was because they tried to bring back two people at once.

Ed offers that Roy become a State Alchemist under his command so he'll have the resources to find a way to get Riza's body back, along with Roy's limbs. He recommends automail replacements but warns of the recovery time needed. Roy agrees, and Ed and Al leave.

\- Roy appeals to Jean Havoc and his parents to give him an automail arm and leg so he can learn Flame Alchemy and apply to be a State Alchemist. They give him three years to recover, but he does it in one.

\-  Roy learns Flame Alchemy and develops his ignition gloves with the help of Berthold's key. Keeping his promise, Roy and Riza burn down the Hawkeye estate (or just the study) and the grisly secrets within. Then they go to East Headquarters, where Roy asks Colonel Edward to escort him to Central for his State Test.

\- Roy passes his State Test and is dubbed the Flame Alchemist, and the youngest State Alchemist in the country at the age of ~14. Under Edward's command, he's allowed to travel the country with Riza for leads on the legendary Philosopher's Stone to restore their bodies.

\+ Roy and Ed still butt heads and argue like canon, though the roles are a little different. Young Roy is more dry and sarcastic while Ed is quick to anger and insults. Riza just sighs in the background.

Eventually they learn to respect and depend on each other for help as the conflicts escalate.

 

Colonel Edward Elric + Lieutenant Alphonse Elric

\- Ed and Al were born and raised in Resembool in the late 1800s. Their parents were a native Resembool resident named Trisha Elric and a Xerxesian immigrant Alchemist named Van Hohenheim. They lived happily until the boys were about 7-8 years old, when their mother died of a consuming illness. Wracked with grief, Hohenheim became deeply depressed and withdrawn, leaving the boys alone with their neighbors, the Rockbells, most of the time. Desperate, Ed and Al snooped into their father's research and devised a way to bring their mother back and repair their family through Alchemy. They could only go so far on their own, so when a travelling independent Alchemist named Izumi Curtis showed up in town, they begged her to train them. She takes them back to her home in Dublith, leaving their father behind.

+Edward had lost respect for his father at this point, but won't forget how he watched them leave through his bedroom window.

\- After a few months/years of harsh training, Ed and Al become much stronger in Alchemy and return home. This time Hohenheim greets them with open arms, overjoyed at their return because he was afraid they'd abandoned him. He attempts to open up to them more and their family feels a bit closer than it has in years, causing the boys to feel guilty over whether they should carry out their plan or not.

\- Eventually they decide to carry it out anyway. The Transmutation fails, but is less harsh than canon, causing Edward to lose his right arm and Alphonse to lose his left leg. Hohenheim rushes downstairs, sees the damage, and quickly brings his injured sons to the Rockbells for surgery. He blames himself for not being a better father and driving them to this desperation.

\- As they recover, Hohenheim promises to be a better father from now on. He spends his savings to commission automail limbs from the Rockbells and helps in their recovery for the next three years. He tries to raise them better and becomes directly involved in their Alchemy studies. He encourages them to focus on becoming State Alchemists who can serve their country and help people.

\- When Ed and Al are 17-16 respectively, they draft themselves into the army and enter the Military Academy, training as soldiers and alchemists. After graduating three years later, they register as State Alchemists. Edward is dubbed the Fullmetal Alchemist for his stubborn, offensive style. Alphonse is dubbed the Soul Armor Alchemist for his patient, defensive style. When they fight together, their Alchemy is nigh unstoppable.

\- In 1908, Ed and Al are sent with the other State Alchemists to the front lines of Ishval as human weapons, forced to kill Ishvalans with their Alchemy in the Dahila district. Ed is dubbed the Hero of Ishval for his flashy, brutal style, and barely keeps his brother and contingent of soldiers alive.

\- Edward decides he'll use his new power and reputation to climb his way up the ranks, all the way to the top, where he can protect everyone and force his country to change for the better. Alphonse promises to stay by his side to the bitter end, and Winry and Hohenheim promise to support them.

\- Ed and Al return to East City as veterans, Winry moves to Rush Valley to become a better mechanic and open her own shop, and Hohenheim moves to Central and sets up an undercover information exchange. Ed is promoted to Lieutenant Colonel under General Grumman, and given command of East Headquarters. Alphonse is his 2nd Lieutenant and personal aide.

Ed gathers a team of trustworthy subordinates to trust his dream with. They include:

\- 2nd Lieutenant Russell Tringham, master strategist, Plant Alchemist. (Breda-ish equivalent)

\- Master Sergeant Fletcher Tringham, mechanic and communication specialist, Plant Alchemist. (Fuery equivalent)

\-  2nd Lieutenant Paninya, weapons specialist. (Havoc equivalent)

After being stabbed by Lust during the Lab 3 incident and losing feeling in her legs, she insists she can keep fighting, but Ed rebukes her, guilty over her condition. He finally relents when she suggests having her legs amputated and replaced with automail from Winry. She's given 3-4 years to recover from such a major operation but does it in 2, coming back to assist the coup on the Promised Day.

\- [last member]

\- Winry Rockbell, the Elric bros. automail mechanic who works out of a popular automail shop in Rush Valley. Also works as one of their informants.

Ed builds himself a reputation as a hot-headed, crass, irreverent man, so no one suspects his real ambitions.

Ed and his subordinates use a coded language involving pretending to be in other countries on vacation, trying the food and seeing the sights. Ed keeps his alchemy notes in a coded travelogue.

Hohenheim runs a travel agency in Central that secretly gathers intelligence from various informants around the world. Many of these agents are Hohenheim's Xerxesian friends.

Edward and his team pretend to take frivolous vacations to tourist traps around the world as a cover-up for their underground activities. Hohenheim pretends to still be a deadbeat dad who takes little responsibility for his sons.

Before the Promised Day, the agency is exploded to kill spies, and Edward bids his father farewell before he leaves down an underground tunnel to escape to Xerxes with his friends.

Ed's other allies:

\- Lt. Colonel Ling Yao (adult), Ed's best friend from the academy and supporter during Ishval, stationed in Central's investigations unit. He doesn't have a family, but instead has a dream of finding and reuniting every wandering descendant of Xing to return to their country and rebuild it.

He investigates Lab 5 at Roy's request and ends up murdered by the homonculi, kicking off Ed's more direct involvement in fighting them, filled with vengeance.

\- Mei Chang (older), daughter of a family of wandering Xingese traders, and Ling's half-sister. She disapproved of Ling leaving their family to join the military but shares his dream of rebuilding Xing.

After Ling's murder, she is filled with grief and vows to get justice for him. She contacts Colonel Edward and offers her family's trading connections as a resource for him and his team, and becomes instrumental in events like Lan Fan's rescue and the Promised Day.

Afterwards, she becomes the spearhead of the reuniting and rebuilding of Xing.

\- Major Catherine Armstrong (adult) OR Olivier Armstrong (younger), age and role swapped with Alex Armstrong. She is the Strong Arm Alchemist and proud member of the illustrious Armstrong family. She's still very buff and physically strong.

\- The Major General of Briggs is therefore Alex Armstrong (older) or Catherine Armstrong (adult)

This is funny if it's Alex, since he becomes terrifying for entirely different reasons - he keeps tearing off his shirt and seems impervious to the cold weather. It's very unnerving.

\- 2nd Lieutenant Lan Fan (adult) and Warrant Officer Fuu, swapped with Maria Ross and Denny Brosh. Soldiers under Major Armstrong's command who escort Roy and Riza while they're in Central researching the Philosopher's Stone in the wake of Scar's appearance.

\- After the Lab 5 incident and Ling's murder, Lan Fan is publicly charged and arrested for the crime. Knowing her and Fuu as close friends of Ling and someone who'd never do such a thing, Edward enacts a cunning plan to break her out of prison, fake her death and escort her out of the country. Not according to plan is Roy's involvement, who follows Lan Fan's escape and sees the dummy body that Ed has crushed beyond recognition with his Alchemy, and seeing her prison tag, assumes he's killed her.

Lan Fan is escorted to the country border with the help of Paninya, Russell and Mei. They wait at a meeting spot until they're met with Major Armstrong and Roy, who see that Lan Fan is alive and innocent. They agree to keep this a secret from Lan Fan's parents and her grandfather, Fuu.

Mei's family/associates escort Lan Fan past the borders of Amestris, then Xerxes, to a secret settlement in the Great Desert where some remaining Xingese have been gathering over the years in hopes of rebuilding their country. Lan Fan stays there for a year and reconnects with her heritage as she helps their efforts.

Lan Fan owes a debt to Colonel Elric and promised to make it up to him before she left. She fulfills it when she arrives alongside Mei, Paninya and Rose in an armored truck on the Promised Day and assists in Ed's coup.

\- 2nd Lieutenant Rose Thomas (older, replacing Rebecca). A soldier serving under Grumman and a close friend of Alphonse from their academy days. She helps deliver the message about the Promised Day to Alphonse.

 

Allies from Roy's adventures:

\- Jean Havoc (younger): Roy's automail mechanic, with assistance from his parents. They run an automail shop in their hometown. He gets annoyed with Roy's life-threatening adventures that keep damaging his automail, but he's quick to fix him back up.

\- Jean and Roy tend to bicker a lot, especially when Roy comes back for repairs after a dangerous adventure, but they do care about each other and consider each other best friends. Jean's mother confesses to Roy one day that Jean actually worries deeply for Roy when he's gone, and hides it under a tough, bickering facade.

\- Jean's dad (Émile Havoc) is an ex-military doctor-turned automail mechanic, joining his wife (Maude Havoc), who's been a long-time mechanic/engineer.

Émile served as a doctor in the military for many years until the Ishval Civil War. He was overwhelmed by the level of casualties, but kept working to save the lives of many Ishvalans. But when the Amestrian military ordered him to abandon his patients (possibly at gunpoint), he ultimately obeyed, fearing for his life. He returned home to his wife and young son filled with guilt, feeling like a failure as a doctor, and eventually abandoned his practice to join his wife's automail business, saving lives in a different way.

He hides his insecurities behind a tough facade, and often tells stories to friends and son about his experiences in warzones to impress them, and to toughen Jean for the realities of automail surgery when he shows interest in joining the family business.

\- When Riza finds an abandoned/injured puppy and wants to keep him, they drop him off with Havoc and his parents. She names the puppy Black Hayate, and takes him with her after getting her body back.

\- At one point Jean travels with Roy and Riza to Rush Valley to see its prominent automail industry, where he eventually enters into an apprenticeship under Winry Rockbell.

\- He has no personal connection to Scar. His attempt to shoot Scar comes from a place of vengeance for Scar trying to kill Roy, flying into a rage when he sees Roy and Scar facing off and remembers how Roy came back with his automail arm completely destroyed last time he fought Scar. He knows how to handle a gun decently, has been around many soldiers because of his shop's clientele, and idolizes his father and his guts-and-gore war stories. He figures he's strong enough to fight for Roy and protect him with his own hands this time.

But as Scar stares him down, he finds he can't pull the trigger. After Scar is driven away, Jean breaks down into tears, feeling like a failure. Roy gently talks him down from it, saying it's okay that he couldn't bring himself to shoot, and he's an idiot for thinking he hasn't helped and protected Roy already. He gave him a home to stay in, a leg to stand on, and an arm to fight with. He's meant for healing people, not hurting them.

\- When Jean eventually returns home to his parents and relays this experience, they're appropriately horrified, especially his father - he realizes that his poor coping skills in regards to his trauma have rubbed off on his son, and he has poorly prepared him for situations like this. Once his mom learns this as well, they all have a good heart-to-heart talk, reinforcing what Roy told Jean, that he doesn't need to resort to violence to protect anyone or prove anything.

\- Breda, Fuery and Falman(younger): After their respective conflicts are over, they become friends with Roy and Riza.

\+ (Teen) Breda and Fuery replace the Tringham brothers in story events. They live in Xenotime as Alchemists pretending to be Roy and Riza, stealing their identities to work with Mugear in creating a Philosopher's Stone and helping the impoverished town. Roy and Riza confront them, learn of their plight, then help them. 

They also repair Breda and Fuery's crumbling friendship. They make up to each other and to the town, using their Alchemy knowledge to save Xenotime through more legitimate means.

Breda pretends to be Roy, while Fuery wears a dress/wig and pretends to be Riza. He probably grumbles about dressing up as 'the girl.'

\+ (Young adult) Falman replaces Rose in Liore. He's a 20-something fledgling member of Cornello's priesthood who has lingering doubts of his claims, but follows him in the hopes that Cornello will bring his dead partner back to life.

\- Maes Hughes (younger), a crime prince from Creta, accompanied by his bodyguards Denny Brosh and Maria Ross (younger). He hassles Roy and Riza in Rush Valley for the secrets to immortality, needing it to survive the constant civil conflicts in Creta and fulfill his ambition of uniting all of Creta through organized crime. He brags constantly about his girlfriend Gracia waiting for him back home.

Him and his guards have a more "1900s American/European Gangster" aesthetic and fight Roy and Riza through shootouts, since they both fight from a distance. Hughes is a good shot but even better with his push knives.

He's an annoying, goofy menace to Roy until a series of adventures lead to Maria losing her arm and him and Roy fighting for survival in Gluttony's stomach, where they learn to trust each other. But soon after escaping, desperate for a Stone and guilty over Maria's arm, Maes accepts Greed into his body and becomes the new Greed. Roy is distraught, but promises to save Maes and give his body back.

Later, Greed!Hughes defects from the homonculi and goes on the run. He eventually runs into a fugitive Roy, accompanied by Darius and Heinkel, and Roy begrudgingly agrees to join up with Greed in preparation for the Promised Day.

\- Rebecca Catalina (younger), replacing Mei. A crime princess from Creta also vying for immortality to save her tribe/state from being overwhelmed by the other tribes/states.

 

Hohenheim Equivalent

\- When Roy's mother appears, Riza is polite with her, having never met her before. Roy doesn't punch her, but he is very cold to her and doesn't accept her as his mother, because he considered Chris his mother-figure. This saddens her as she awkwardly tries to reconnect with her son, but ultimately deems it as fair since she left him at such a young age and is basically a failure as a mother.

She's a good person but not a great parent, haughty, somewhat vain, and prone to impulses. She was more enamored with the idea of being a wife and mother than actually doing it, but she tried.

Back in the 15th century, Roy's mother was a young servant in the palace of Xing's Emperor. She caught the fancy of the king's Master Alchemist, and he chose her for an experiment that involved taking some of her blood.

She later discovered the results of said experiment when she finds the Dwarf in the Flask while cleaning the Alchemist's study. The creature, calling itself a Homonculus, thanked her for her blood that gave it life and in return, taught her how to read and write and various subjects, including basic Alchemy, so she could make something of herself beyond a lowly servant. Given a new pride and confidence with her skills, Roy's mother tutors her fellow servants, catching the attention of the Master Alchemist. He deems her a greater asset than a mere servant, and hires her as his personal assistant.

As she grew into an adult, she became an influential Alchemist herself, becoming favored by the Emperor. She contributes to Xing making leaps and bounds in Alchemical progress, greater than even Xerxes at the time. The Homonculus gives her a new name befitting her rank and power. She thanks the Homonculus for helping her, and hopes she has a long, happy life with a family of her own. The Homonculus shows disdain for the idea and only hopes to be able to escape its flask without dying.

+Possibly, the Master Alchemist attempted to court with her, but she eventually grew uncomfortable in the relationship and broke off to strike off on her own. This influenced her decision to someday have a family.

For nearly a decade, the Homonculus spends less time with her as its knowledge is requested by Xing's Emperor for a way to make him immortal. When the immortality ritual was finally ready, the transmutation sacrificed the million+ people living in Xing and condensed their souls to where [Roy's mom] stood, holding the Homonculus. This essentially turned them both into walking Philosopher's Stones. She collapsed, and when she awoke, she found her city empty with only the Homonculus standing before her, now taking a human form identical to her own. The Homonculus explained that it sacrificed everyone to gain enough power to escape its flask, and tricked the Emperor and his court to put the transmutation circle's true center where they'd be standing. Considering her a blood-sister, the Homonculus let her share in the power, bestowing the gift of an immortal body that never ages. She can have the long, happy life she wanted. Tortured by the half-a-million souls inside her and realizing she is now the last living citizen of Xing, [Roy's mom] falls into despair and flees.

\- Eventually, in the late 1800s, she travelled to the growing country of Amestris. In a small town in the South, she befriends a young soldier named Grumman, possibly helps him hook up with his eventual wife. Decades later, he returns the favor and introduces her to Christopher Mustang, and she soon falls in love with him. She also befriends his sister, Christine Mustang.

Near the turn of the century, she bears him a son that they name Roy, but upon trying to raise him and watch him grow, she grows concerned and depressed. Her friends never judged her ageless form, but she feared the idea of watching them and her family grow old and die like everyone else around her for the past few centuries. She thinks of herself as a monster, and fears her son is the same after bearing him with her cursed body. Christopher tries to comfort her and encourages her not to distance herself from her child, and hires a photographer to take a picture together as a family. He assures her she's not a monster as he places her son in her arms, wanting them only to be a happy family no matter what, and as the camera flashed, tears streamed down her face. She resolved to find a way to grow old and die with her beloved, but feared failure. She keeps a copy of the photograph with her from then on.

After years of research into countless Alchemical texts to find a way to become mortal again, she discovers that the entire nation of Amestris was built to repeat the same tragedy that occurred in Xing, creating an even greater Philosopher's Stone. Realizing it as the work of the Homonculus, she decides to be the one to stop them, for the sake of her friends and family and the nation at large. She vaguely explains what she must do and wishes Christopher goodbye, promising they'll die together, and leaves around 1904. A 5-year old Roy sees her leave with a cold, distant look as she tries not to cry in front of him.

\- A decade later she returns with a plan for the Promised Day and how to counter it. She revisits her hometown and finds her old house either vacant, or sold to another family. Remembering the house of Grumman's daughter and her husband Berthold, she finds the Hawkeye estate burned to the ground with no trace of the family left. When she calls Grumman, now a General, he explains what's happened in her absence and reprimands her for being gone so long without checking in. When she warns Grumman to leave the country, he refuses, bound by his duty to help Colonel Edward in the coup.

 

Promised Day and Ending

\- Ed discovers that Envy is Ling's murderer, and goes on a rampage through the underground trying to kill him. Alphonse risks his life to make Ed calm down. Roy points out Envy's jealousy, driving them to suicide.

\- Denny sacrifices himself during the fight with Bradley.

\- The struggle for a 5th Sacrifice doesn't happen, since the spaces are filled with Roy, Riza, Ed, Al, and Izumi.

\- Greed and Hughes learn to fight in sync with each other, constantly switching control of their body. Greed is essential in helping destroy the Dwarf, but ends up sacrificing himself. Hughes mourns what he's lost, and decides to go back home and quit the crime business for good, promising to focus on his family and loved ones from now on.

\- After the final battle, Rebecca is given the last Philosopher's Stone instead of Hughes to save her tribe and help bring order to Creta.

\- Riza sacrifices herself to give Roy his arm back.

\- Roy's mom offers her last soul to bring Riza back, but Roy refuses.

Roy transmutes himself to Truth and offers his Gate as tribute for Riza, and is successful. Roy loses the ability to perform Alchemy entirely, and buries the secrets of Flame Alchemy forever. This fulfills his promise to Berthold - he did ultimately use Flame Alchemy to bring Riza's body back, and cast it aside when it was no longer needed.

\- Hughes, Maria and Rebecca go back to Creta, promising to meet their friends again someday.

\- Roy's mom goes back home to visit the graves of her husband and sister-in-law. She says goodbye and dies peacefully.

\- After recovering from their injuries, Roy and Riza go back home, given a warm welcome by their friends, especially Jean and the Havocs.

\- Roy and Riza keep travelling together well into adulthood, as partners in Alchemy research.

\- Possibly Jean goes with them too, as the mechanic for Roy's leg.

\- Jean and Roy become very close as they grow older, eventually hooking up and marrying (if/when gay marriage is legalized in Amestris), similar to canon Ed and Winry.

 

 ---

OLD IDEA - Ed and Al lose their limbs via Non-Transmutation and are not Human Sacrifices.

\- Some of this can just be part of the Ishval War flashbacks, but without the limb-crushing plan.

\- At one point in the Ishval War, Alphonse is ordered to use his walls of earth to trap fleeing Ishvalans and let them be gunned down. Horrified at the resulting carnage, he a finds a surviving Ishvalan woman and her mother and lets them escape by bringing down a section of the wall. Instead they're caught in an explosion from Kimblee's Alchemy, and Kimblee mocks Al's attempts at mercy, but agrees not to expose his treachery, calling him lucky that no one else saw what happened.

Alphonse has a psychological breakdown soon afterward, inconsolable by his older brother. Equally despairing over what they're being forced to do, Edward's already had one or two bitter arguments with their superiors, but the only answers are to obey orders or be court-martialed and executed for treachery. Seeing his little brother in such despair and enraged at Kimblee's actions, Ed devises a dangerous but cunning plan.

\- On their next assignment, Ed and Al are ordered to help trap another group of escaping Ishvalans inside a large building and allow Kimblee to dispatch them. Instead, Ed and Al use their Alchemy to create a tunnel for the Ishvalans to escape through, then collapse it. Then Ed creates heavy stone blades to crush their limbs with. So when Kimble collapses the building with an explosion, the soldiers find Ed and Al badly injured in the rubble and blame Kimblee for messing up the mission, gravely injuring their best Alchemists and allowing the Ishvalans to escape. With no evidence to the contrary, Kimblee is court-martialed and dispatched from the battlefield to face trial in Amestris. He swears he was framed and will get back at the Elrics for this.

\- Meanwhile, Ed and Al are dispatched from the battlefield for their disabling injuries. Edward has lost an arm, and Alphonse has lost a leg. At their request, they are sent back home to recover and be fitted with automail replacements from the Rockbells.

+Armstrong left the battlefield in a different way.

+If Scar was related to or involved with that group of escaped Ishvalans, he's slightly less inclined to attack the Elrics during his vengeance campaign.

\- Ed and Al spend a year or so recovering in Resembool and telling what they've been through to their families. They receive news of the War's swift and terrible end via newspapers and realize they haven't made much a difference in the end, and have only given themselves a temporary respite if the State continues to wage senseless wars and use its Alchemists as human weapons. This influences Ed's decision to become the next Fuhrer.

 


End file.
